Surrender

To surrender means to forfeit a Duel to the opponent, allowing them to automatically win the Duel.

Surrendering is often informally known as scooping, because after surrendering a player "scoops" up all of their cards and shuffles them back together in preparation for the next Duel.

Surrendering can be used strategically in a Match if it would not result in a Match loss. For example, if the player wants to conceal specific cards or their overall Deck theme from their opponent but is very unlikely to win from their current position, surrendering would prevent the possibility of the opponent finding out.

In most video games, in contrast to the official OCG and TCG rules, a player is only allowed to surrender the Duel during their own Main Phase, and only on the 10th turn or later of the Duel. Generally, an AI opponent will never surrender, with the only known exception being the Yata-Garasu Lockdown.

Rules

Officially, players are allowed to surrender the Duel at any time, during either player's turn. However, in the TCG, the opponent is required to accept a player's surrender, whereas in the OCG the opponent can refuse a surrender for a single game. However, in both the TCG and OCG, the opponent must accept a Match surrender.[citation needed]

The TCG rule was used tactically against players who used "Victory Dragon", whose effect allowed a player to win the Match. If a player surrendered the Duel right before "Victory Dragon" attacked, they would only lose the Duel instead of the Match, thereby effectively making the card's effect useless. In official tournaments, some players declared such a form of surrendering as unsportsmanlike behavior, causing many problematic ruling disputes among judges.[citation needed] This was among the factors that eventually led to "Victory Dragon" becoming Forbidden.[citation needed]

In the anime

In the anime, a player surrenders by placing their hand over their Deck or Duel Disk. In official tournaments, this is not accepted; a player must make a vocal declaration that they are conceding the Duel.